Panetta Reassurance to China on Strategy Leaves Skeptics

Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
tried on his first visit to China to assure his hosts the
Pentagon’s strategy for the Asia-Pacific region isn’t aimed at
constraining their military. He didn’t convince everyone.

“We want the U.S. to reconcile their actions and
statements to make China believe that the U.S. indeed doesn’t
intend to contain China,” Shen Dingli, director of the Center
for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said in a
telephone interview.

Panetta may have made his pitch to the Chinese more
difficult because on the way to Beijing he stopped in Tokyo,
where plans were announced to place a second U.S. anti-missile
radar system in Japan. While the Pentagon said the advanced X-band radar was intended to track ballistic missiles from North
Korea, Shen said the timing created suspicions the U.S. was
backing its ally Japan in a dispute with China over ownership of
uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

The Pentagon’s global strategy to “rebalance” U.S.
military assets, announced in January, will result in placing 60
percent of American naval assets in the Asia-Pacific region, up
from about 50 percent now, according to Panetta. The U.S. plans
to redeploy to Guam military forces stationed in Japan and
rotate a contingent of Marines through Australia, and probably
also the Philippines.

Xi Meeting

After two days of meetings that included visits with his
Chinese counterpart General Liang Guanglie and Vice President Xi
Jinping, Panetta said officials in Beijing “acknowledge that
the U.S. presence in the Pacific isn’t something they view as a
threat.” At a news conference yesterday in Beijing, Panetta
said, “No one mentioned containment or that our efforts were
aimed at China.”

Still, the U.S. position on the China-Japan island dispute
became a prism through which U.S.-China ties were being judged.
Panetta repeatedly said in Beijing that the U.S. isn’t taking
sides in the island dispute between China and Japan.

Speaking with cadets at a military academy near Beijing
yesterday, Panetta told a questioner that he understood China’s
ordeal at Japan’s hands during World War II. He urged the
Chinese to move beyond such historical grievances.

“I understand the deep wounds that China suffered during
World War II and nobody understands those wounds better than the
U.S., because the U.S. also suffered deep wounds,” Panetta
said. “At the same time, we can’t live in the past; we must
live in the future.”

Island Standoff

The standoff over control of the islands, known as Diaoyu
in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, has sparked the worst crisis
between China and Japan since 2005, endangering a trade
relationship that tripled in the past decade to more than $340
billion.

It also comes ahead of a once-a-decade leadership change
this year in China that was clouded by a two-week absence by
Vice President Xi, who is in line to be president.

Xi’s unexplained absence, which sparked speculation about
his health or turmoil in the leadership, first drew attention
when he canceled a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton on Sept. 5. Panetta was the first international visitor
to meet with the vice president since he resurfaced in public
over the weekend.

“I believe that your visit will be very helpful in
advancing the state-to-state and military-to-military
relationship between our countries,” Xi told Panetta.

The vice president “looked very healthy and very engaged”
during their meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People,
Panetta told reporters afterward.

‘Inherent’ Territory

After meeting with Panetta, Xi criticized Japan’s move this
week to buy the disputed islands from their private Japanese
owner, calling the move a “farce,” according to the official
Xinhua News Agency.

Liang, the defense minister, said at a news conference this
week that his country reserved the right to take action on the
islands, calling them “inherent Chinese territory” that had
been held by China for more than 500 years before Japan took
possession.

Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam -- all of which have
territorial disputes with China over islands in the East and
South China Seas -- are “taking this U.S. rebalancing
opportunity to exert pressure on China,” Shen said, reflecting
sentiments expressed by Chinese military officers in officially
approved publications. “While the U.S. can bring about
stability,” it appears to be creating instability, Shen said.

China and the Philippines have clashed this year over the
Scarborough Shoals in the South China Sea.

Japan’s Responsibility

Panetta told the military cadets that Japan isn’t immune
from criticism even though it’s a treaty ally of the U.S.

“We have made it clear to Japan’s leaders that they have a
responsibility to resolve this dispute peacefully,” he said.

Panetta leaves Beijing today for Qingdao where he is to
meet Vice Admiral Tian Zhong, commander of China’s North Sea
Fleet. Panetta will also tour a Type 054A frigate and a Type 039
diesel-electric submarine.

Unlike Donald Rumsfeld, a predecessor as defense secretary
who questioned China’s growing military strength, Panetta said
the country’s military modernization is understandable given its
economic growth.

To improve visits and contacts with Chinese military
leaders, Panetta invited China to participate in 2014 in the
Rimpac naval exercise, held every two years off the coast of
Hawaii. It’s the world’s largest international naval exercise.

The two nations also discussed ways to improve coordination
on cybersecurity and outer-space activities, Panetta said.

Chinese officials also said the U.S. rebalancing toward the
Asia-Pacific region can’t be limited to beefing up its military
presence, Panetta said.

Panetta said the U.S. agreed with Chinese calls that the
approach should “emphasize diplomatic relations, improving
economic relations and improving aid to the area,” as well as
security.